Squeezed between US pressure and Iran's war warning, South Korea is weighing sending 150 troops to the Strait of Hormuz — the route for 70% of its oil imports. Here's the dilemma in numbers.
We separate the two ways of counting the welfare ministry's budget, and correct the denominator of the national debt ratio to nominal GDP. We hold back judgment on why the ratio falls until the official GDP assumption can be checked, and we found no confirmed evidence that the future response fund caused the ₩106 trillion rise in debt.
Justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won sent a text in 2021 asking regulators to speed up a drug trial approval. Five years on, that message is the flashpoint of his September 15 confirmation hearing.
We confirmed the presidential office's request for a re-nomination, and the August 18 nomination of Son Bong-gi, from the presidential office briefing. In plain words, provision by provision: which law covers candidate recommendation, nomination, the National Assembly's consent and the confirmation hearing.
Seoul walked back a property-tax hike on non-resident owners — but Gangbuk apartments, not Gangnam's, are the ones rising. Here's why.
Creditors voted Sept. 2 on Homeplus's fate. Here's how MBK drained ₩4.1 trillion from the retailer over eight years, then turned ₩1.9 trillion of debt into equity six days before its rehabilitation filing.
The reported two-year sentence is a first-instance ruling and was appealed. It is not described as final. Defendants, charges and stages of separate proceedings must be distinguished.
President Lee Jae-myung replaced six ministers as his approval rating sank to 45%. The data and disputes behind South Korea's biggest reshuffle yet.
Nepal's flood has killed 633 and left 9 Korean workers missing for four days. Why a glacier collapse, not an earthquake, is now a warning for Korea's overseas builders.
South Korea added 7 counties to its rural basic income pilot, paying 150,000-200,000 KRW a month, as the farm population fell below 2 million for the first time.
Separate major warehouse fires across operators from one company’s incidents. A guide to matching populations, periods and denominators, with corrections to our earlier article.
South Korean borrowers in their 20s now carry an average mortgage balance of ₩203.94 million, crossing ₩200 million for the first time even as lending tightened everywhere else. Here's what the Bank of Korea data reveals — and the statistical trap behind it.
After 111 days and Korea's first full strike in a decade, Hyundai's union got a wage deal. Here's what the 2.3 trillion won in losses actually bought.
We split the $350 billion into $200 billion of investment and $150 billion of shipbuilding cooperation investment, and worked out what a cap of $20 billion a year actually means. On September 7, 2026 the Ministry of Trade and Industry said the Encinal project had not been confirmed.
Korea's 2026 tax reform raises the property-tax exemption to 1.4bn won for owner-occupiers, cuts it to 900m won for absentee owners. The data, history and fight behind the split.
South Korea's household debt hit a record ₩2,019.8 trillion in Q2 2026, its biggest quarterly jump in 19 quarters. The data behind the debt-fueled stock bets and the central bank's rate dilemma.
KDI raised South Korea's 2026 growth forecast to 3.2% in 3 months on a chip boom — but new-jobs forecast fell from 170,000 to 110,000. The numbers, explained.
Trump put North Korea's arsenal at 57 warheads for the first time, expecting to meet Kim Jong Un this year — but dropped 'denuclearization.' What the silence signals, per SIPRI data.
South Korea's pension market hit 554 trillion won in Q2 2026, with banks' share falling to 50.8% as brokerages near 30%. The data behind the shift, and why now.
South Korea's fertility rate jumped from a record-low 0.72 in 2023 toward 0.9 in 2026. Is this birth rate rebound a real turnaround — or a demographic mirage?
South Korea's driest reservoirs in decades were hit by record hourly rainfall just ten days later. The numbers behind Korea's 'climate whiplash' — and what comes next.
President Lee Jae-myung's Liberation Day speech proposed peace talks to replace Korea's 73-year armistice. Here's why this attempt differs, backed by data.
South Korea's 2026 AI budget jumped 211% to ₩10.1 trillion. As President Lee's Liberation Day speech leans into an 'AI top-3' vision, we checked the numbers.
Korea unveiled a housing plan on Aug. 13 adding 230,000+ homes and doubling household loan quotas, as Seoul's jeonse prices rose six times faster than a year ago. Here's whether it can actually cool the market.
Korea's exports hit a record $21.3B in early August, and 46.8% of it was chips alone. Here's the data behind how a share once in the low 20s doubled in two years — and why the boom itself is a red flag.
Korea's National Pension Service raised its domestic stock target from 14.9% to 20.8% and put off the rule-based selling. Meanwhile the actual share a securities firm estimated came down from 31.1% on June 22 to 26.3% on July 8. Here is how to read those apart, including where the 28.8% limit carried in reports comes from.
South Korea's youth employment rate has fallen for 26 straight months to 43.9%. Here's why, and whether the government's new jobs plan can reverse it.
From 2027, Korea's grade-9 civil service exam drops history for a certificate test, while other subjects gain 5 questions each — what changes for 100,000+ applicants.
KRW 936 billion for electric-car purchase subsidies: how the production tax credit differs
South Korea's employed 55-79 population just topped 10 million. Most left their career job at 53, not by choice, and a thin pension means many now say they'll need to work until 73.
South Korea's current account hit a record $49.7 billion in June, powered by a semiconductor export boom. Here's why the Bank of Korea itself is warning the windfall isn't reaching ordinary paychecks.
KOSPI fell 4.58% on a chip selloff, yet the structure differs sharply from the 8.77% crash of 2024. Plus Korea’s first-ever two-day baseball heat shutdown, and why Kakao’s record +36% profit still leaves the AI question open.
KBO scrapped its new heat-cancellation rule a day after announcing it, following a fan's CPR emergency. Here's what a temperature-only safety rule missed, in the numbers — plus a record 15 games called off this season.
South Korea just recorded 42.5°C, its hottest day in 122 years, as Seoul issued its first-ever top-tier heat warning. Deaths have topped 21 — but the real toll may be far higher.
Koreans aged 55-79 in work topped 10 million for the first time. Why they leave jobs at 53 yet hope to work until 73.6, what 29 sidecar halts in six months say about the KOSPI's 3.76% surge, and the price math behind 1.44 million Galaxy Z8 presales — all in numbers.
Korea's 2026 tax reform doubles the top property tax - and 64% of its 3.4tn won revenue gain comes from that single levy. Plus the structure behind the KOSPI's 5.12% plunge and K-beauty's 10x surge in Brazil.
South Korea raised its property tax exemption to 1.4 billion won and pushed multi-home owners' tax ratio to 80% — the 3.4 trillion won reform explained by the numbers.
KOSPI jumped a record 17.91% in one day and SK Hynix hit its price limit for the first time in 17 years. Here's the data behind Korea's wild semiconductor rally.
By TRM Labs' count, $643 million (66%) of the $972 million lost to hacks in the first half of 2026 was linked to North Korea. VOA's $609 million and 55%, citing Blockaid, is a separate count with a different base. The $789 million and 74% for private-key theft are that side's figures too.
South Korea's July exports reached $98.89 billion, the second-highest month ever — semiconductors alone added $41 billion (+178.8%). The same day Yangsan hit 41.6°C, an all-time national record, and a one-night DUI crackdown caught 320 drivers. Here is the context behind the numbers and what comes next.
Seoul's average apartment jeonse deposit hit ₩704.6 million in July, a record high. New housing supply just fell 48% — here's the data behind the crunch.
The KOSPI jumped 17.91% in one day, its biggest gain ever. Korea also ended prosecutors' 70-year investigation powers, and tropical nights hit a record 8.8 days.
South Korea's parliament is stripping prosecutors of their last investigative power. See how a 20-year reform — 6 crime categories in 2020, 2 in 2022, zero now — culminates in October's new Prosecution and Serious Crime Investigation offices.
Yangsan recorded 40.3°C on July 29, 2026 and 40.0°C at 13:10 on July 30. The consecutive-day record refers to Yangsan observations since 2008, not a first across all Korean stations.
Bank of Korea data show the housing price outlook index jumped to 127, a 4-year-10-month high, even after a rate hike. Here's why supply, not cheap money, is driving the surge.
Korea's Kospi fell 5.98% to 5,663.24 — the first back-to-back circuit breakers in the market's history. Add a 40.3°C heat record in Yangsan and a 1,000-trillion-won AI datacenter alliance: here is the context the headlines skip.
The KOSPI plunged 10.84% to 6,023.66 — its steepest one-day fall since September 2001 — as China chip fears crushed Samsung and SK Hynix. We also unpack Korea's record 6.7% welfare benchmark increase and why the real heat-wave risk starts this week.
South Korea's KOSPI sank 5.72% in a day and triggered a sell-side circuit breaker. What a record 45 triggers this year reveal about the chip rally's future.
Korea's KOSPI plunged 5.72% to 6,690 the day a 12.5% US forced-labor tariff took effect. How today ranks against history's worst crashes, how the tariff cap really works, and the fandom economics behind 3.09 million albums.
Seoul apartment prices have risen for 75 straight weeks, closing in on the 85-week record under the Moon administration — even after a rate hike. Here's why Korea's coming tax overhaul could be different, in numbers.
A briefing on tariffs, 37°C heat and a Chinese chip IPO. Heat-illness figures cover the 12 days from July 20 to 31, 2025.
South Korea's June 3 local elections came up 7,194 ballots short, halting voting at 26 sites for up to 105 minutes. A special counsel is now being picked, July 23 — here's what went wrong.
We split the amended act's 20-day preparation period from its 180-day maximum investigation period. Then, in plain words: what the 690-day total, the 2.709 billion won cost estimate and two warrant rejection rates from different dates each mean.
KOSPI spiked 5% to 7,166 intraday but closed at 6,797.70, up just 0.74% — JPMorgan puts the margin unwind at 75% done. Plus why a 10m won fine could unseat Seoul's mayor, and why a 10-month diplomat data breach was disclosed 5 months late.
The quoted 0.1% won payment share refers to January 2022. It is historical, not the current 2026 share; an updated comparison requires SWIFT data for the same date.
KOSPI bounced back 3.56% to 6,747.95 one day after its 4.46% crash. The three forces behind the rebound, a 30-day special counsel extension that ended a 50-day parliamentary standoff, and 120mm more rain on saturated ground — with context the headlines skip.
A plain-language explanation of what the 3.4% won settlement share in the Bank of Korea's finalized 2025 statistics is actually a share of. It also covers why the 2.7% and 3.4% shown in the table differ from the 0.8 percentage point change the Bank of Korea published, and how to keep the offshore won settlement system's target schedule apart from actual usage.
KOSPI fell 4.46% to 6,516 after China's Kimi K3 AI model rattled chip stocks. Here's the DeepSeek precedent, how to prepare for 80mm-per-hour rain on tomorrow's Seoul commute, and why BTS's first-ever World Cup halftime show matters.
A plain-language explanation of which buildings the warehouse fire safety technical standard that took effect on January 1, 2024 applies to, and how. It also states that the 7,388 warehouse facility fires recorded nationwide in 2017–2021 were checked in a source repeating the National Fire Agency's release rather than in the agency's own page, and it does not conclude, without an investigation, that any particular site broke the rules or that its equipment did or did not work.
Korea unveiled a roadmap to make the won a freely exchangeable currency — yet only 3.4% of exports settle in won. Plus a night-rain safety checklist after 89mm fell in one hour, and Dplus KIA's first international title in six years.
North Korea's foreign minister made her first official visit to Russia in 9 months, and a Gallup Korea poll found 61% want prosecutors to keep supplementary investigation powers. Plus Samsung's first AI glasses due July 22 — three issues unpacked with data the original reports left out.
Korea's regulator triples the cash deposit for single-stock leveraged products to 30M won, the government moves to bar under-14s from social media, and K-pop album exports hit a record $257.48M — three stories decoded with background and comparisons.
South Korea's 2027 minimum wage rose to 10,700 won an hour. Small businesses carry record debt, while 12% of workers still aren't paid even that much.
Rice-price increases, private-sector plans for KRW 550 trillion in AI data centres, and 933 heat-illness cases: a briefing that separates actors and measurement scopes.
Analysis before the July 16 rate decision: the case for an expected hike
Korea added 63,000 jobs in June while youth employment fell by 197,000. What the rebound hides, a 120mm monsoon-rain checklist, and Samsung's spreading unions.
